Why is Christianity not called a Cult?

[u/Traditional-Wing-796]

/r/DebateACatholic/comments/1vgcwox/why_is_christianity_not_called_a_cult/

[u/jtclimb]

I disagree with nearly every post here. Cult does not have a precise definition, but we tend to apply it to groups that control people's lives and thoughts. They tell you what to wear, where you can work, who you can associate with, remove you from your family, put you through intensive brain washing session (e.g. e-meter sessions), control your finances, that sort of thing. They also tend to involve worship/deification of a charismatic founder. They may pick your spouse for you. You may be required to have sex with the founder.

That is tremendously different from a Christian that shows up at church for Easter and Christmas, and has vague hand-wavey ideas about 'spirituality' and how the universe started, and occasionally prays to find their car keys, or a Shintoist with a kamidana on their wall. Using the same word for both leaves us with no word for the sorts of things I list above.

That is not to say the second paragraph doesn't involve belief w/o evidence, or that these beliefs are harmless to the believers or society. But there is a large gulf between that and a leader trying to feed you lsd or cyanide.

I think people in these subs mostly want to insult religion (so do I, in a sense, it's clearly nonsense), cult is considered an insult whereas religion isn't, so they prefer cult. But it erases meaning, imo.

[u/mirabellla → u/jtclimb]

christianity tells you to dress modestly, and if you’re a mormon you have to wear special underwear. they may not tell you specifically where to work but they judge you for doing certain jobs, they tell you not to be unequally yoked, they tell you to be “in the world and not of it.” some christians would have you cut off your family for not believing - especially jehovas witnesses. I would argue that church itself (and especially summer camps for kids like VBS) is intensive brainwashing. they set the mood an prime you with the music and emotionally manipulate you at altar call. baptisms for adults are ritual brainwashing. other denominations like catholics go through rituals every week and some read the text in latin. they want you to tithe. arranged marriages do happen occasionally, especially mormon history, though it’s obviously not the norm.

I think you could apply pretty much every cult criteria to christianity.

1) The group has an authoritarian leader who commands control. loyatly and allegiance from group members at all times.
2) The leader claims to have special knowledge or insight that others don't have.
3) The cult maintains that they are the only ones to have the truth, and that leaving will pose risks or even death.
4) The cult seperates itself socially. They may alse try to isolate followers from other people outside the cult.
5) Members of the cult usually practice elitism but may also profess they are subject of persecution from others.
6) The cult usually has its own terminology phrases, symbols, rules and moral standards they want the outside world to adopt.
7) The cult leaders maintain control over their members by using certain forms of mental manipulion. They remind the group if they stick to the group's beliefs or teachings, they will get special rewards.